Piggy Banks

[airfix]

Like so many children, then and (probably) now, I was encouraged to save my pennies (and the occasional shilling) in a piggy bank which was bought for me.

Over the years I had several but the one which stands out in my memory was a wonderful novelty plastic one which had a simple lever mechanism inside, just beneath the coin slot, which raised a hat from the piggy's head every time a coin was dropped in. It was a great way to get small children to save money and worked a treat with me. Although mine was yellow, with a small blue hat, I know that it also came in blue with a yellow hat; possibly other colours too.

This would have dated from the very early 1970s and is now sadly long gone. It seems to have been quite rare too as despite numerous web searches I have never seen anything like it since. I would be very interested to know if anyone else here had something similar, any pictures of it or just your earliest memories of your own piggy banks. Cheers!

[Sly]

Re: Piggy Banks

I had a Postman Pat ceramic style money box. I was way thrifty as a kid so it was always getting jammed up with coins due to its odd shape. When I was a teen I had a money box that sorted coins into trays. When I was saving up the trays use to buckle under the weight of the coins. lol

[Jacqueline]

Re: Piggy Banks

I had a post box money box which even at that age (about seven) struck me as odd because you usually posted letters in a post box, not coins.

[airfix]

Re: Piggy Banks

Ha! I had one of those post boxes too (although not a posh one like that) and I remember thinking the same thing...and wouldn't it be funny if people really posted money in a post box.

[Heather74]

Re: Piggy Banks

My brother had the post box one too, the only way you could get the coins back out was to slide a knife into the letterbox and shake, you sort of slid the coins along the knifes edge.
We spent ages putting coins in just so we could slide them back out

[Jacqueline]

Re: Piggy Banks

Ooooh I remember doing that with a pig shaped piggy bank my little brother had. It was strangely satisfying lol

[Heather74]

Re: Piggy Banks

LOL it really was, we'd sit round the table waiting turns

Mainly around bonfire season we'd collect all our 'penny for the guy' money and use my brothers red letter box to save up the money for fireworks

[Jacqueline]

Re: Piggy Banks

I don't seem to see kids doing that these days, does anyone else?

[Heather74]

Re: Piggy Banks

No not really, maybe a few teenagers out side the co-op, but sadly the streets aren't as safe as they once were, you get a lot of people saying 'kids dont play outside' and 'they are stuck on computers'.
Not the kids fault if parents dare not let them out any more. Sad sign of the times I'm afraid.


I always wanted one of those giant plastic cola bottle saving banks. Had loads of ceramic ones over the years always seemed to end up with a great big chip near the money slot!

[Sly]

Re: Piggy Banks

My grandparents used to have a big empty bottle that used to be from a pub, it was huge. They used to make their kids 'donate' to it (I've no idea what the hell the reasoning behind this was, I was a bit young to understand) which eventually became their fund to go to Canada. We used to put rubber bands on the neck, and because it was next to the open coal fire, the bands melted into the neck. Looked like the bottle had being broken at some point and been glued back on.

[Richard1978]

Re: Piggy Banks

My brother might still have a clown money box that was given a long time ago, I've seen 1 or 2 other like it at car boot sales. It was labelled Co-Co but doesn't look like the old cartoon character.

I've still got a Britannia plastic piggybank, when I last took it into them they let me have a key to it as they had stopped the sceme for them, which was nice.

All my loose coppers & 5p's go into it.

One my Aunts used to collect 20p's in a gallon bottle of Whisky, not sure if she ever filled it or how much money it held.

I've seen some old ones shaped like a book, so they can be hidden on a shelf. Often the have cryptic title like "How To Save The Easy Way"

[Jacqueline]

Re: Piggy Banks

That's not very cryptic is it Richard?

[Trickyvee]

Re: Piggy Banks

I don't think I ever had my own piggy bank but did use a couple of my mam's which she had as ornaments around the house. My favourite was the clay bunny that she still has and I still love it. Sadly it has a glued on ear as I managed to accidentally kick it off the fireplace at one point in my childhood! Each week I'd put a block money in (my name for a 50p).

[zip55]

Re: Piggy Banks

I've got one I use even now .. it's a Ben Sherman Bulldog

[vanhelsing]

Re: Piggy Banks

Don't know about you lot but I have two containers for my loose change:-
Coin jar for 10/20p
a metal one for 5/2/1s